Male entitlement in the John Lewis ad

[MardyBra]

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/john-lewis-advert-boy-backlash-b1938929.html

Lots to deconstruct in this.
I have no problem with an exuberant boy in a dress (although I feel JL are trying very hard to show their target market how woke they are).

But the wilful destruction of the home his mum has put a lot of time and effort into offends my feminist (and middle-class!) sensibilities.

JL says it’s a ‘young actor getting carried away with his dramatic performance”, not “wilfully damaging his home”.’ He looks a bit old to be at the crayonning on the wall stage still.

I like the advert from an entertainment POV but the underwriter would not pay out on this type of damage so very misleading and I would say jl are mis-selling the product.

@FluffyBooBoo All comments should be worthy of dissection!

I do feel that you’ve cleared things up though - you have just admitted you said that “people are taking about it like the situation is real” - yes? Well that’s the one and only thing I was originally disagreeing with! I didn’t see anyone doing any such thing. So I said so. I didn’t see anyone posting under that illusion at all! I’d ask for a citation from you to suggest otherwise but, well, it’s getting on now…

Glad we’ve sorted it.

you have just admitted you said that “people are taking about it like the situation is real” - yes?

I hardly have to 'admit it'. It's literally what I said:

Quite a few people are talking about the behavior as if it was real

Well that’s the one and only thing I was originally disagreeing with!

You said I misunderstood. I haven't. Saying 'people are talking about it as if it's real' is not the same as saying 'people think it's real', which is what you seen to think I thought.

Anyway. I'm really over this, whatever it is you are doing. I'm pretty sure others will be too.

I'm hiding this thread. I have more interesting things to be doing.

I love this advert , its just a young boy having fun ,totally unaware of what he's done whilst having the fun !
I don't know what the fuss is about , i bet there would still be complaints if it were a girl , the quiet child a boy and the parent was a man.
It's an exuberant child making a big mess which we know the vast majority of adults would have stopped well before he did what he does.

I hate I just see a spoilt brat ruining the home.

And being knowingly sexualised so young. It’s really really unpleasant. As for the girl and woman and what that says to us, well where do we start ?

I got it on Instagram probably because I mentioned it on here

Loads of comments similar to this thread

I wonder if they are happy with the outcome.

Personally I prefer ads that generate talk because they are good not highly irritating.

@tsmainsqueeze

I love this advert , its just a young boy having fun ,totally unaware of what he's done whilst having the fun ! I don't know what the fuss is about , i bet there would still be complaints if it were a girl , the quiet child a boy and the parent was a man. It's an exuberant child making a big mess which we know the vast majority of adults would have stopped well before he did what he does.

@tsmainsqueeze he literally walks up to his sister who is minding her own business, and smacks her paints off the table. He is totally aware of what he’s doing

I've commented on this before and the advert is dire and misleading. I'm just off to smash my household contents and rest assured that I'll be recompensed. (Strangely enough, I wasn't covered after my 'Greek Night' when I smashed everything in the kitchen because my ex didn't quite understand 'leave'. He got the message straight away after that.)

But I just want to say that the actor is fabulous

It's an exuberant child making a big mess which we know the vast majority of adults would have stopped well before he did what he does.

And we know the vast majority of sisters wouldn't just sit there when their brother accidentally-on-purpose knocked their paints on the floor. What chance he'd even get as far as the dining room after that? I guess the world isn't ready to see a proper sibling fight in an advert. Even though the resulting mess would probably make an even bigger claim on the insurance.

Also it's not real.

But how much isn't real? Are John Lewis saying it would be covered under their "accidental damage" policy? Or are we supposed to know it's all one big made-up joke, including the insurance thing at the end?

I'm definitely overthinking this.

I'd give up if I were you @carrotsandbrocolli

The as if it were real comment was odd and irrelevant. Of course there are some people who can't tell fact from fiction. They are unlikely to be the ones on this forum. The outrage has got nothing to do with a detachment from reality. It's odd to defend such a bizarre comment. I can only think that the poster thought she was making some useful point but has just not managed to put it into any words which help others understand it.

It took the FCA to tell John Lewis that if you depict someone deliberately trashing stuff in a home insurance ad, it's not great because their home insurance doesn't even cover accidental damage as standard, let alone wilful damage 🤦🏽‍♀️

Thanks for sharing that. While the poor parenting on show in the ad is what grated to me, it did seem suspect that it was implying that deliberate damage by a child of this age would be covered by the insurance. FCA are pretty strict on selling of financial products and not misleading consumers.

I am gutted.

I was hoping to buy this insurance and a lot of arts and crafts. Then I was planning to have a cup of tea and not worry if they started to wreck the place, paint the walls and throw glitter everywhere.

Gutted I tell you.

It was the misogyny and child sexualisation that bothered me more than the fact that it was misleading. Oh well, at least the ad is off air now.